And So It Begins
by a.dancing.blue.flame15
Summary: Branched off of the AU Sanadasayuri creates in her story Mended Hearts. A prologue and the first story of the manga from that point of view. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, look it up!
1. Prologue

Flame: Okay, peoples, this fandom might not know me, this is my first fanfic that's not BP. Shocking, I know.

Neko-chan: THANK YOU SANA-CHAN!!!!

Flame: Neko-chan! They don't even know _why_ you are thanking her! Can you please wait _one_ moment?!

Neko-chan: (smiles innocently) Nope!

Tamako: Shall I go get the muzzle, Flame-sama?

Flame: (sigh) No, Tamako. We need her to introduce this story. Sadly. Okay, quick intro. I'm a. dancing. blue. flame15, but everyone calls me Flame. This baka-cat is my pet, Neko-chan.

Neko-chan: KONICHIWA!

Flame: And this overly serious pup is Neko-chan's... um... well... they're related somehow. This is my dog, Tamako.

Tamako: (bows) Nice to make your acquaintance.

Flame: Like I said, overly serious. Anyway, I'm sure a bunch of you have read the fan fiction **Mended Hearts** by Sanadasayuri. Well, when we read it, we got this awesome idea, what if we looked at the first chapter of Naruto through this point of view? So, we got permission from Sanada-san, and here we are.

Neko-chan: Maybe, if we get enough reviews asking for it, we might continue! That would be awesome!

Tamako: Shall we start the story?

Flame: Uh, yeah, sure. START THE CHAPTER! (light go out, random screen pops up. 3...2...1!)

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own the story, I don't own the characters, hell, I can't even lay claim to the _idea_. Ah, well.

* * *

_**And So It Begins**_

_**Prologue**_

"Zeiguwa." The Sandaime, the third Hokage, acknowledged the small figure that swung gracefully through the window and landed flawlessly behind him.

"You called for me, Hokage-sama?" the figure asked. He disappeared from the window sill momentarily before reappearing in front of the Sandaime. Even in the light the boy seemed to belong to the darkness. He wore soft leather shoes that made no noise when he moved, black pants made of stretchy cloth that allowed free movement, and a tight black tank top that exposed the tattoo that proclaimed him as a Hunter nin. His hair was covered by a dark blue hood and his face was hidden behind an intricately decorated porcelain mask. Slung loosely around his waist was a large belt completely covered with pouches. Twin kodachi hung on his back.

"Zeiguwa, what do you know of the Uchiha clan?" the Sandaime asked, seeming to go off topic.

Zeiguwa hesitated for a moment, then shrugged and began. "The Uchiha's were a proud and abundant clan based here in Konoha. They were powerful due to the Sharigan eye, which could be used to detect the flow of Chakra in a ninja's body. One night, about three years ago, due to unknown circumstances, the Uchiha heir, Uchiha Itachi, committed mass murder, killing the whole clan in a mere hour, though he, for another unknown reason, spared his younger brother, Uchiha Sasuke, now aged seven and in care of one of the village women." came the answer.

"Good, very good. Ookami taught you well. Exceptionally well." when nervous, the Sandaime had been known to repeat an idea, and Zeiguwa tilted his head curiously.

"Is this going somewhere, Hokage-sama?" he asked, worried now.

"Actually, it is. You know how most young and talented children your age go to Ninja Academy to become ninja. After examination they split into groups of three to be trained further, and so on. A path you could have followed if you hadn't barged into my office on the day I was meeting with Ookami, Kou no Tori, and Tora. It was quite a shock when Ookami immediately took a liking to you. I remember-" the Sandaime was set to continue, but Zeiguwa cut him off.

"Hokage-sama, you're rambling. My mission, if you please." he prompted.

"Ah, yes... well, you really won't like this, but you are the only full Hunter nin even close to the right age to complete it. It's a very important job. I-" once again, the Hokage was cut off, this time when Zeiguwa held up his hand.

"You might want to hold that though, Hokage-sama, we are about to get an uninvited guest." just as he announced that, another form swung through the window, and the Hokage muttered something along the lines of 'Why do I even bother having a door'.

The newcomer was a tall, silver haired man with a cloth mask covering half of his face and his left eye hidden by the headband that identified him as a Konoha ninja. Though Zeiguwa relaxed visibly, one of his hands lingered near one of the kunai pouches on his belt.

"Hokage-sama, you'll never guess what I just found! A new book called- Oh! Hello there, little boy!" the strange ninja said.

Hatake Kakashi had just come from the book shop, and was about to tell the Sandaime about the book he had bought when he finally noticed the little boy in the uniform of a Hunter nin. Perhaps he had forgotten it was Halloween? He hadn't noticed the boy's chakra, but excitement could explain that, right?

The boy inclined his head silently, and Kakashi noticed his tattoo. Since there weren't any fake Hunter tatoos allowed to be made, the truth hit Kakashi hard.

_'The Hunter's must be getting desperate, hiring a child'_ he thought incredulously, eying the boys slender form.

The Hokage smiled, knowing full well what Kakashi was thinking, and knowing how the young Hunter would retaliate, so he speeded up the process.

"Kakashi, Zeiguwa. Zeiguwa, this is-" this time he grinned when the young Hunter cut him off again.

"Hatake Kakashi, jounin, former ANBU member. Son of the White Wolf of Konoha. Known as the copy-nin, or the Scarecrow. His left eye is a Sharigan, transplanted from his chunin team mate Uchiha Obito. His team leader was the Yondaime." Zeiguwa said matter-of-factly.

Kakashi stood speechless after this _child_ spouted secrets almost no one knew. As if he couldn't care less about the older man's mental state, the boy turned back to the Hokage and said something, though all the jounin could hear was the blood rushing in his ears. The Sandaime laughed and turned to the silent, stunned copy-nin.

"Kakashi, Zeiguwa is worried about you. He thinks that you may be a bit mentally unstable. What do you think?" he asked, his voice lightly teasing. He gave Kakashi a moment to return to Earth, and smiled when his eyes finally focused again.

"Uh, excuse me. I seem to have left something off at my house." And with that messed up excuse, the silver haired jounin dissapeared the way he came.

"Hokage-sama, I seem to have given that poor man an aneurysm." The Hokage laughed again at the way Zeiguwa said it, completely unemotional and uncaring.

"Zeiguwa, you sure know how to hit a man where it hurts most." when the Hunter remained silent, the Sandaime finally sobered again.

"I guess you want to know about your mission. Well, this is going to possibly put me in mortal danger, but, I want you to go to Ninja Academy and fail. Twice." as if expecting a blow, the Sandaime closed his eyes and winced, but opened them after a few moments when nothing happened.

"I suppose... your objective is to have me graduate with the young Uchiha, right? As you wish, Hokage-sama." Zeiguwa accepted without a fight, and the Sandaime was completely thrown off.

"A-are you saying you'll do it?" he asked in shock, and his mouth fell open when the covered head nodded.

"But I will also fail a third time. In order to fail two times, I must play at being 'dead last', and it would seem weird for a 'dead last' to pass a third time with flying colors." he answered.

The Sandaime shook his head. "You must graduate with the Uchiha." he ordered. "What if you can't make the test up?"

"I'll think of something. Right. Mission accepted. As of right now, I do this my own way, beginning with a henge on my face and body, to disguise myself. Good evening, Hokage-sama." without allowing the Sandaime to say anything else, the young Hunter disappeared in a burst of fire.

"Defiant brat." the Sandaime murmured to the empty room.

* * *

Across town Kakashi lounged in his bed in his boxers, his face completely uncovered as he stared at the ceiling, his new purchase, an obscenely orange book, lay forgotten on his bedside table. His last thought before he drifted off to sleep was _'His eyes were such a clear blue...'

* * *

_In another apartment a porcelain mask lay discarded on a polished table as the wearer peeled off the blue hood, revealing sunny golden hair. A simple henge and the serious Hunter nin Zeiguwa was replaced by a whiskered, immature child, by the name of Uzamaki Naruto.

* * *

Flame: Okay, unless we get some motivation from y'all, this will be a two-shot. The prologue and the thing between Naruto, Iruka, and Mizuki. That ought to be fun.

Neko-chan: That was fun to write! Flame-chan, can we please move on to the next chapter???

Flame: No, Neko-chan, it's past your bedtime, and our stuff always turns out to be crap when we get tired. Off to bed with you. You too, Tamako. We have to be in peak form to deal with this story tomorrow.

Neko-chan: (grumbles) Fine. (stomps upstairs)

Tamako: Good night, Flame-sama. I will see you in the morning when I awaken you for school. (_ascends_ the stairs)

Flame: (laughs) Figures that Tamako would ascend rather than just go up. Well, goodnight people.


	2. Chapter 1

Neko-chan: HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY! (pinches anyone not wearing green)

Flame: Just so you know, we are not writing _anything_ on April first. She is this ecstatic about every holiday. You should have seen her Halloween costume!

Tamako: I personally think the children found it amusing to be given candy by Kirby.

Flame: That reminds me! Okay, if you're reading this, you obviously know how scary Naruto's fox demon is, but have you ever said it's name out loud? I'm serious. I was reading one chapter, and until then, the name didn't strike me as odd, that is, until I started reading out loud to myself, and came to that dreaded name. Kyuubi. (pfft) I'm serious, now all I can think of when I see that name is a pink blob thing!

Tamako: We thought Flame-sama was having a seizure...

Neko-chan: (pfft) KYUUBI AND KIRBY ARE BROTHERS!!!! (laughing spastically)

Flame: (joins in spastic laughter)

Tamako: (sigh) they will be at this all night, so shall I start the chapter? okay.

(random screen pops up. ...3...2...1)

Disclaimer: If we owned Naruto, well, let's just say that Kakashi would live happily ever after with his own kitsune.

_**And So It Begins**_

_**Chapter 1**_

Kakashi lounged easily on the eave of a village house, staring blankly at the pages of a bright orange book, not really reading it. He was actually thinking about the fact that he was only free to do whatever he wanted for two more days.

The Ninja Academy exams were tomorrow, which meant that the next day he would be assigned three stupid kids to babysit until he could knock some sense into them.

Shaking his head, Kakashi remembered that not _all_ kids were stupid. That point had been proven wrong one night three years ago, the first and last time he saw the Hunter nin Zeiguwa. That child had laid all of his secrets to bare, and didn't even seem to care about how that had made him feel.

After that Kakashi made it his secret mission to find out all that he could about the kid, though others would cal it an obsession. What he did manage to get was a bit shocking.

At four a child, now known as Zeiguwa, became apprenticed to one of the most famous Hunter nin in Konoha, Ookami, who, before then, had never taken an apprentice, and hasn't since. Not only that, but he had also been taught the numerous jutsu by the only other nin that ranked with Ookami, Kou no Tori and Tora. It appeared he was a child genius, and quickly became a full Hunter nin at age 7. The last anyone had heard from Zeiguwa was that night Kakashi had barged in on the Hokage assigning him a new mission.

Suddenly the junin was shocked from his thoughts by a loud shout not too far away. The name that was shouted was familliar to almost every villager. The container of the nine-tailed fox, Uzamaki Naruto. Kakashi smiled, amused as the boy zipped past him, a paint can in his hand, blue eyes alight with mischief. (Kakashi later learned he had defaced the Hokage monument.)

Sitting back, the copy-nin remembered it was the blue eyes that had him trailing the kitsune for a week. The young Hunter had the exact same eyes. But, like every other lead, it seemed like this one ran into a brick wall. There couldn't be any connection between this hyperactive, orange clad kid and the self assured Zeiguwa.

So now Kakashi just waited until he could ask Zeiguwa himself.

Twenty chuunin hopped past him in pursuit of the prankster.

* * *

Naruto sensed the junin's chakra long before he came into view. It was impossible for him to cover it from a Hunter who had been raised to recognize it, though the copy-nin wasn't to know that, so instead of showing that he had noticed Kakashi, Naruto jut hopped past him.

"NARUTO! COME HERE THIS INSTANT!" That was Umino Iruka, a sensei at the academy, and one of the few people Naruto knew wouldn't hit him if he caught him, so he allowed his movements to slow, grow sloppy. Iruka caught him only because Naruto wanted him to.

The next thing he knew he was hog-tied in front of a class made up entirely of children who hated him without he slightest idea why. Naruto knew, had always known. _'Your adoring fans, kit.'_ the Kyuubi said from his cage in Naruto's body, and the kitsune just ignored her.

"How many time have I told you to stay in class?! I can't-" Iruka-sensei was lecturing him, but Naruto tuned him out, instead focusing on the chakra of his charge, the Uchiha boy. The other students' chakra fought for his attention. There was that pink haired girl who he pretended to have a crush on. Her knowledge and flow of chakra would help her be an adequate medi-nin. The Uchiha's chakra marked him as an avenger with the use of the Sharigan. Naruto already knew that he would be teamed up with both of them.

After making sure the Uchiha was who he seemed to be and not an impostor, Naruto shifted his mind to his next mission. It would be the first since he had accepted this one, and Zeiguwa knew exactly how to accomplish it without blowing his cover. There were rumors of a traitor in the chuunin ranks, and he had already figured out who it was. He smiled inwardly in anticipation.

Finally, after a while, Iruka-sensei let him loose from the rope, and told the class that because of Naruto, they would be practicing the art of transforming. Most of the students managed to make themselves an adequate copy of their sensei, but Naruto decided to mess with the chuunin's mind, and instead came up with a jutsu on the spot.

A puff of smoke covered the kitsune, and after it cleared Iruka could get a good look at the naked girl that stood in Naruto's place. Nosebleeds were common this season, right?

After another lecture, the scarred chuunin dragged his student to the Hokage monument to clean of his vandalism.

Naruto looked at the illusion he had put on the monument, and laughed when he saw that no one had realized that's what it was and just got rid of it. There was no way the Hunter would actually deface his Lord and his predecessors.

He began to pretend to clean it off.

"Naruto! If you hurry up and finish, I'll take you out for ramen!" Iruka called from the top of one of the Hokage's head. For a second he thought the child had frowned, but convinced himself he was wrong when, moments later, his offer was accepted with enthusiasm.

_'Why don't you just drop this mission, kit? It is obviously below us.' _the Kyuubi commented from inside him. Naruto shook his head slightly. The Hokage gave him this mission for a reason.

_'That Uchiha boy, if his family was still alive, he would be nothing special, just another one of your hateful classmates.' _It hadn't taken long for Naruto to become accustomed to the Kyuubi after Ookami had told him of her real fate, and he realized the demon didn't resent him for her imprisonment, often giving advice when he was training.

_'But his family _is _dead, and he's considered special, so I have to watch him.' _Naruto told her.

He let the Kyuubi think on that, and got rid of the rest of the paint illusion.

* * *

"I WILL BE STRONGER THAN ALL OF THE OTHER HOKAGES!" Naruto announced a while later in the ramen shop. That announcement earned him glares from a few of the villagers eating there.

Iruka sighed at Naruto's innocence. Even though he had accepted that Naruto and the Kyuubi were not one, the rest of the village would refuse to see the kitsune as Hokage. The child's mission was end up just a broken dream.

"Ne, ne, sensei, I have a request." Naruto said quietly.

"What, seconds?" Iruka asked.

"No... can I try on your leaf head protector?" Naruto begged.

At this rate Iruka knew that Naruto would probably never get one of his own. He was a dead last that rarely came to class anymore.

"No. You have to wait until you graduate and get one of your own." he replied.

"STINGY!!!"

* * *

Naruto smiled when the jutsu for the test was announced. The Bunshin no Jutsu was one of the ones he had learned on his own before he had met Ookami and the rest. It was creating a clone that had no real substance, an illusion. He also knew that to complete his new mission, he would have to fail.

When he was called, Naruto held most of his chakra in check, using only enough to creat one clone, an insubstantial one.

"Fail." Iruka-sensei sounded dissapointed, and the other instructor, Mizuki, tried to convince him to pass the boy, in the end, all of the students but Naruto passed the exam and became genin.

He perched lightly on the swing in the school yard, watching the joyful and naive students brag to their parents when Mizuki-sensei aproached him, according to the plan the teacher had no idea he was following.

Naruto and Mizuki-sensei were sitting on the terrace of a house when Mizuki brought up the scroll, as Naruto knew he would. The teacher spun a ridiculous story about how anyone who mastered one of the skills in the scroll would imediatly become a genin, and Naruto pretended to swallow it. This was going to be easier than he expected.

* * *

Kakashi was roused out of bed when he was summoned to the Hokage tower for an emergency meeting. He was one of the last to arrive when an excited whisper rippled through the crowd. Standing there, just behind the Hokage, was the Hunter who had missing since three years ago. Zeiguwa was back, nodding silently while the Sandaime talked quietly to him. Suddenly he disappeared in a whirl of leaves. Kakashi still couldn't sense his chakra.

* * *

Zeiguwa reappeared in the middle of the forrest. Grabbing a bag he had left there, he shed his mask and hood. He slipped the loud orange jumpsuit over his uniform, the baggy material hiding the kodachi and the his kunai belt.

He slipped the large scroll out of the bag, put his mask an hood inside of it, and cast an illusion jutsu over it so it wouldn't be seen by his two quickly approaching guests.

He put the henge on himself that Iruka would recognize as the real Naruto, and an illusion that made him look battered from practicing what he already knew. He had trained with the sealed scroll under the orders of Kou no Tori.

He didn't have to wait long for Iruka and Mizuki to show up, though Iruka made his presence known while Mizuki hid in the shadows of a tree, easy prey if Zeiguwa had wanted to take care of the traitor the normal way. Instead he told Iruka-sensei about the story Mizuki had told him, and offered to show him the skill he knew was the first in the scroll.

Suddenly, as if from nowhere, Mizuki attacked, sending kunai flying recklessly. Naruto dodged the ones that aimed for him easily, but Iruka wasn't as lucky, and got a few deep scratches.

"Naruto! Do you want to know why everyone hates you, why everyone in the entire village ignores you? I'll tell you the truth!" Mizuki announced.

Naruto already knew, but the Kyuubi perked up. She loved hearing her own story.

"No! DON'T!!" Iruka shouted desperately, but Mizuki had already started the story.

"You know about the fox demon 12 years ago, don't you? Since the demon was sealed, a new rule was created for the village."

Naruto played along. "... a rule? What rule?" He asked.

"Naruto, this rule was never meant to be told to you." Mizuki said smugly.

"Not to me? What is this rule? Why?" Naruto demanded, pretending to be interested while watching Iruka out of the corner of his eye, monitoring blood loss. When Mizuki just laughed, Naruto said again, "What... kind of rule is it?"

"No one is allowed to tell you the fact that you... are the fox demon." Mizuki said it dramatically, but to Naruto, who already knew about the Kyuubi, it was a bit anti-climactic.

"No! Don't!" Iruka-sensei practically screamed, but, as far as he knew it was already too late.

"It means that you are the nine tailed demon fox that killed Iruka's" Mizuki motioned to the shocked teacher who was crouching on the forest floor, "parents and destroyed the village. You were sealed by the Hokage you admire and..."

"Stop it!!"

"-were lied to by everyone. Iruka never liked you. In fact he hates you."

Naruto glanced over at his now silent teacher. In the corner of his eye, he saw Mizuki throw one of his giant shuriken while Iruka dived at him. It felt like time had stood still when Naruto was thrown to the ground just before he was about to dodge the shuriken, Iruka-sensei on top if him, the weapon digging into his back. For once the reflexes that had been etched into his mind fled, leaving with only word.

"Why?" he whispered.

Blood trickled out of Iruka-sensei's mouth as he smiled.

"My... my parents... after they died no one was there to compliment me, or acknowledge me... I was so sad... I would act like an idiot to get peoples attention, since I couldn't do well in things like school and get attention like that, it was better than nothing. So I kept acting like an idiot. It was so painful. Yeah, Naruto, you must have been in a lot of pain too. I'm sorry Naruto, if I had done a better job, you wouldn't have had to feel like that." Iruka-sensei was crying by the end, the salty drops falling on Naruto's face.

Finally instincts kicked in and Naruto slipped quickly from under Iruka-sensei and sped off. As he ran he felt Iruka's chakra change slightly, closely resembling the one that Naruto let other ninja feel when he was in this form. From the movement and the way Mizaki's chakra followed it turning into an almost perfect copy of Iruka's, he guessed Iruka had used a complex henge to transform himself into Naruto, and Mizuki transformed into Iruka to fool who he was Naruto.

As he ran, Naruto thought on the way Iruka treated him, and his recent confession. Finally he came to a conclusion and turned around. He had another precious person to protect. He hid behind a tree and was in time to hear Iruka say that he and the Kyuubi were not the same.

Just as Mizuki was about to use his other shuriken to end Iruka's life when Naruto struck. He used moves that were only taught in the academy, still taking care not to be discovered. "Don't touch Iruka-sensei, or I'll kill you." he threatened. Mizuki laughed while Iruka shouted something about why did he show himself, and neither knew that he was well capable of carrying out his threat.

Naruto's smile, slightly demonic, sent shivers down Mizuki's spine, but he didn't show it. Suddenly Naruto formed a hand seal, and then there were thousands of Narutos, perching on the trees, surrounding the clearing. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.

The thousands of Narutos converged on the traitor, and started to beat him senseless. After the traitor was knocked out Iruka called him over.

"Naruto, come here, there's something I want to give to you." he said. Naruto smiled inwardly, knowing exactly what it was.

The first part of his mission was completed.

* * *

Flame: That. Took. Forever!

Neko-chan: Do you know how long it takes to rewrite 53 page manga through another view?

Tamako: I took no part of it.

Flame: We know, you're lucky, Tamako. We started on Saint Patrick's Day, and now we're finished 4 days later. Exhausting. Not to mention school. We just got a new teacher who's the world's biggest bastard. And he twitches, which annoys me to no end.

Neko-chan: I just started to sleep in that class.

Tamako: I read Shakespeare.

Flame: Which leaves me to listen to his BS and do the homework.

Neko-chan: Aww, poor Flame-chan.

Flame: I can't believe we're finally done, I thought that chapter would never end. We had to keep referring back to the manga for accuracy...

Neko-chan: So, do y'all want more Zeiguwa of much better quality? Here's a link (we hope, we're not sure if it'll work...) to Sana-chan's story that we based this off of. .net/s/4284345/1/Mended_Hearts

Flame: If that doesn't work, the name of the story is Mended Hearts by sanadasayuri. The original idea is her's. We just expanded on it. If we get good responses, we may continue. Sanada-san hints to Kakashi's mission with Zeiguwa. That would be fun to write about...

All: Love y'all. Good night!


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